LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring HD vs DVD comparison

[gene]

DVD and High Definition Comparison

From Ken Stein:

Last night the WB network premiered “The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring” theatrical version in High Definition. I took the opportunity to compare this High Definition broadcast to the DVD extended version. It is important that I used the extended version because it is of higher quality than the DVD theatrical version. I synchronized the DVD with the broadcast and switched between the two; of course I had to fast forward through the extended scenes to keep up. I received the HD signal over the air with a Samsung SIR-T351 ATSC tuner which should be higher quality than cable or satellite because they are compressed HD and “Over the Air” is not. It was displayed through my BenQ PE8700 projector which has the HD2 Mustang DLP chip. What I found between the two sources was virtually unnoticeable. I could not see any difference in the video and only a slight difference in the audio. The DVD dialog seemed a bit more anchored and had a slight amount of more authority in the bass. Also, the surround field seemed to fill the room a little better. If anyone else has tried this comparison, I would like to see your comments. If you haven’t, the movie will be concluded tonight and you still have a chance for this unique comparison.


Please share your experiences with this here.

 

[djoxygen]

Does anyone know if they had a true HD source? Or was it just an SD source broadcast in HD to avoid any additional loss? If one couldn't tell the difference between a DVD and HD, it would seem to indicate the latter.

Does anyone know if the movie has even been mastered in HD yet? I hadn't seen any word from Peter Jackson on HD pre-production/remastering that might end up on BluRay or HD-DVD. It seems unlikely they would do an HD master just for one broadcast.

Finally, did they preserve 2.35:1 or hack it up like some other HD movie channels?

 

[docferdie]

The problem with the WB is that it broadcasts in 1080i so whatever gains you have from increased resolution get lost in whatever deinterlacing algorithm your setup applies. I also assume that your projector has a native resolution of 1280x720 as opposed to the movie which is broadcast at 1080i. Add to that the limitations of component vs DVI and you'll see where things can go wrong. Add to that the fact that the WB's 1080i encoding has consistently been poorer compared to CBS'(i.e. I often see motion artifacts in the WB's HD content whereas I hardly ever see it on CBS)
The only OTA HD movies really worth getting excited about are the ones broadcast by ABC since they broadcast in 720p so there is no butchering of the signal in terms of progressive to interlaced to progressive conversion.

 

[Ken]

Does anyone know if they had a true HD source? Or was it just an SD source broadcast in HD to avoid any additional loss?

It was definitely better than SD.

Does anyone know if the movie has even been mastered in HD yet?

I'm wondering if it was mastered in HD for future releases on HD-DVD or Blue-Ray. Jackson has pretty good foresight.

Finally, did they preserve 2.35:1 or hack it up like some other HD movie channels?

The 2.35:1 ratio was not preserved.

Ken Stein
Audioholics